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Dave Matthews kicks off summer tour

Dave Matthews Band kicked off its summer tour on July 15 at Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. The concert was sold out, but thanks to Yahoo Music, thousands of fans were able to see the performance without setting foot in the state of Florida.

Yahoo's new Live Nation Channel live streamed DMB's entire concert – one electronic and one acoustic set – for free. The show was the first in a fairly ambitious partnership to supply free live video streams of a different concert each day for an entire year. And while DMB was the guinea pig, more shows are planned by the likes of Justin Timberlake, Usher, Kiss and more.

Speaking of the Dave Matthews Band summer tour, those two sets a night are the reason it's being dubbed "A Very Special Evening With Dave Matthews Band." The group is playing a massive career-spanning setlist that will, from time to time, also change the configuration of its lineup depending on the song.

DMB's summer trek runs through September, and of course DMB will also be playing its traditional Labor Day run at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington State. Those shows will feature a "Caravan Stage" that will also showcase performances by other artists.

Dave Matthews also recently told Rolling Stone that he was working on the follow-up to the 2012 album "Away From the World." "There are some songs the band has been playing for a long time," he said. "And then whenever I start messing around in the studio, I start writing, so hopefully we can come up with something worth listening to."

Dave Matthews is literally along for the ride (Updated 9/27/13)

Dave Matthews Band's familiar sound has never changed much, but that's perfectly fine for a group which released its eighth studio album, "Away from the World," on September 11, 2012. While of no significant milestone to the band, the project marked the return of producer Steve Lillywhite, who had last worked with DMB on a collaboration on the never released "The Lillywhite Sessions" in 2000.

Suffice to say, Dave Matthews Band and Steve Lillywhite had more success this time around. "Away from the World" went to #1 on the Billboard 200, the sixth DMB release to make it to the top of the chart. That feat tied the band with legendary group the Eagles for the most #1 albums by an American band in chart history. Something to crow about, indeed!

Following the album release, Dave Matthews Band kicked off their 2012 Winter Tour with a two-night gig in East Rutherford, NJ on November 30 and December 1st. That tour picked up again in the spring with a run through the south, including a stop at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and has continued into the summer. And of all things Matthews could've made headlines for, it was this: The singer was riding his bike in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 13 when he got a flat tire and was stranded on the side of the road. Luckily for the crooner, he was picked up by an avid fan who got the thrill of a lifetime when she gave him a lift – to his own concert.

Dave and Tim will reportedly kick off 2014 with a pair of shows in New Orleans, Louisiana. The duo will play the historic Saenger Theatre on January 15th and 16th. The iconic venue was built in 1927 in the Italian Renaissance style, and was once the flagship of the Saenger Theatre chain. Thought destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Saenger has undergone extensive renovation and restoration, and will be reopened as a performing arts center.

About Dave Matthews Band

In an age of social media dominance, not many musicians could market themselves with a following gained via word-of-mouth and sustained via constant touring. But Dave Matthews Band – Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, saxophonist Jeff Coffin, violinist Boyd Tinsley, drummer Carter Beauford, trumpeter Rashawn Ross and guitarist Tim Reynolds – has and they do.

Crisscrossing the country since its inception in 1991, the Dave Matthews Band is known for its spectacular live performances across the United States and Europe. Its summer stops have often been highlighted by an elaborate video and laser light show designed and produced by former road manager and current lighting designer and video director Fenton Williams.

Two key events have helped shaped the Dave Matthews Band as it is known today. The first came in 1996, when Matthews launched an attack on bootleggers in conjunction with the U.S. Federal Government. The efforts resulted in an unprecedented crackdown the following year, and led to the release of DMB's first official double-disc live album, "Live at Red Rocks 8.15.95."

The second was the tragic death of the band's original saxophonist, LeRoi Moore. He suffered traumatic injuries in a serious ATV accident in June 2008 and passed away two months later. Coffin, a former Bela Fleck saxophonist, took his place and was part of the release of "Live at the Mile High Music Festival," a three-disc set from shows in Colorado that summer.

Dave Matthews and the Band paid tribute to Moore with the release of their most recent album, 2009's "Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King." It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, giving the band their fifth consecutive number one debut.

DMB took the year off from touring in 2011 but returned to the road in 2012.

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September 19, 2014

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